What is the difference between a Variety and an Error?

jessewvu

I found a 1979 P wide rim SBA $ today in a bunch of coins I started going through. I think it might grade MS64/65 and was wondering if I would have to pay the "Mint Error" price for grading or if I could just send it in under PCGS's Economy level.


But really, what is the difference anyway?

relicsncoins

My deffinition is:

Variety, a slight variation in the design that was intended by the mint.

Error, something missed by quality control that would've been corrected had it been caught.

JJ

cladking

A "type" is an intentional change made by the mint to a design or die.

A "variety" is a usually unintentional change made to a die.

An "error" is a coin made incorrectly by normal dies.

FredWeinberg

A variety is on the Die itself.

An Error is in the striking, or planchet manufacturing.

I usually say "Die Varieties" and "Mechanical Errors"

The confusion comes because either one has been
historically called an Error -

It's just been in the past 20 years or so that most
collectors/dealers in this area differentiate between
Die Varieties and Major Mint Errors.

There are exceptions/overlapping definitions, etc, but
this is the general usage.

Fred

PerryHall

Doubled dies and overdates are both errors and varieties.

cladking

It might be added that these terms are used incorrectly and haphazardly by the hobby.

Not everything seen on coins or the output of dies will fall neatly into one of these cate-
gories. For instance, a piece of the die breaking off is a die change that is unintentional
and will create a distinctive coin with a "cud". This is usually considered an error though
it hasw more properties of a variety. Errors tend to not repeat or, if they do, only briefly
but such a die will continue to make the same error until it worsens or is stopped. This is
more an error though because it wasn't like this when the die went into production.

There are numerous coins (and die struck objects) that don't fit neatly in these categories.
And then there are catalogers who want to refer to the different types of bicentennial Ikes
as "varieties"!

FredWeinberg

Doubled Dies and Overdates are Die Varieties,
that are under the general umbrella of "Errors"

Double Strikes, Off Centers, Off Metals are
Major Mechanical Errors that also are under
the general umbrella of "Errors"

The term "Errors" encompasses both Die Varieties and Mechanical Error Strikings.

And, as mentioned, there are overlaps and exceptions to those definitions.

RichieURich

To me, a variety (or "die variety") is in the dies, such that every coin struck from that die pair has the same feature. For example, the 1955 doubled die cent occurred because the die was hubbed twice, and every coin struck from that obverse die is a 1955 doubled die cent.

An error is such that each one is (in a sense) unique. For example, a coin struck on the wrong planchet is an error, as is a broadstrike, an off-center, a double-denomination, a multi-struck coin, etc.

I think confusion arises because the process of creating many of the die varieties is often called an "error", i.e. it was a mistake to hub the 1955 die twice.

mr1931S

My deffinition is:

Variety, a slight variation in the design that was intended by the mint.
Error, something missed by quality control that would've been corrected had it been caught.



1909 S and plain VDB should be considered varieties,or more correctly, became varieties after the first Lincolns were struck sans the designer's initials then. 1922 "no D" is decidedly an error,not a variety,using the above definition.